April 3, 2014 - In the wake of the Malaysian
government’s announcement that flight MH 370
ended in the Indian Ocean and the continuing
search, the Flight Safety Foundation called on
the commercial aviation industry and national
civil aviation authorities to gather for an
international symposium on the current state of
technology and need to incorporate practical
in-flight aircraft monitoring and communications
systems to enhance location tracking.

On March 8, Malaysia Airlines confirmed that
Flight MH370 lost contact with Subang Air
Traffic Control at 2.40 AM. Flight MH370,
operated on the B777-200 aircraft, departed
Kuala Lumpur at 12.41 AM on March 8, 2014. MH370
was expected to land in Beijing at 6.30 AM the
same day.

The flight was carrying a total number of 227
passengers (including 2 infants), 12 crew
members. Malaysia Airlines is currently working
with the authorities who have activated their
Search and Rescue team to locate the aircraft.
To date authorities have been unable to locate
the B777 aircraft.

“We will hopefully know soon what happened on
this tragic flight,” said David McMillan,
Chairman of the FSF Board of Governors.“We do know, however, that emerging
technology exists to provide much more real-time
data about aircraft operations and engine
performance. That data can help us unlock
mysteries, leading to timely safety improvements
and more focused search and rescue missions,
while avoiding some of the pain and anguish felt
by victims’ loved ones in the wake of a
tragedy.”

“Satellite communications, navigation, and
surveillance systems also represent efficient
ways of tracking aircraft, especially over
water,” said Kenneth Hylander, FSF’s acting
president and CEO.“Given existing technology, we simply
should not be losing contact with aircraft for
unknown reasons. Out of respect for the
families, it’s also time for the media
speculation to stop, and for a knowledgeable,
responsible, professional dialogue to begin to
examine technological options for practical
tracking of aircraft.”

The Foundation, which has long been a leader in
calling for greater use of data for risk
mitigation, emphasized today that the
combination of data gathering, analytics, and
sharing would improve safety and operational
efficiency.The migration toward exploiting “smart
machines” that supply real-time, actionable
information not only helps in determining what
went wrong in the wake of an accident, but
assists operators in determining the status of
aircraft, engines and sub-systems in order to
predict and prevent failures, ultimately further
advancing the industry’s already outstanding
safety record.

Noting that it took 23 months to recover the flight data
recorders in Air France 447 over the Atlantic, Hylander
added:
“Given today’s sensor and satellite technologies, we
shouldn’t have to wait so long to find out where, what,
and why things went wrong.”